16x9 - Off The Grid: Living off land hour from Vancouver

imagine an island so secluded there's no power no paved roads and no plumbing in most cases either a place hundreds of feral sheep roam free where money isn't always necessary and conventional rules don't really apply this island you may be surprised to learn lies a mere 90 kilometres from Vancouver and is home to some 400 people year-round it's called Liske IDI never heard of it until recently neither had we that's why we traveled there last month to get a sense of what it really means to live off the grid we were warned before we left port that heading to Liske et was like stepping back in time an island only an hour by boat from Vancouver Island safe guarded by giant Cedars rocky outcrops and an aversion by some to outsiders its size is often compared to Manhattan's that as it turned out a comparison to New York couldn't stand in stark contrast here city indulgences are left behind most notably power the entire island is off the grid on more than one occasion BC Hydro has approached the Islanders offering to install it but there's a general feeling here that power and the conventional sense would destroy their treasured way of life all right just up here to the summit and we have a ride at the yurt that way of life is what drew Gerry ciccolo here seven years ago with only a bag full of clothes and a mountain bike so what is all this ah we got some kale we got some lettuce different greens are growing here I try not to get any food from you know off-island Gerry doesn't carry any money or keys and barters for anything he needs often by trading firewood or doing odd jobs microwave no toaster no blow-dryer no TV no do you miss anything above no I don't so what is this so here's my one solar panel what power he does use comes from a small set of solar panels and a gas generator believe it or not this swamp here is the jewel of the 10 acres Gerry's property is a cluster of out buildings including the shed he sleeps in so this is the winter sleeping quarters / Internet Center and his outdoor shower so in the middle of winter when you want to shower you have to walk through the forest for it that's right to get to the shower in snow in rain yeah I take an umbrella everything's hot water hot air I'm not so dairy I'm not sold well you have to try it first and you will be sold take your word for butterflies are flapping and the birds are chirping alright are there people who come here thinking that they can tough it out that they can live off the grid that quickly learn not for them yes there is so I would say there's probably less than a 40% success rate here and people come get all excited maybe even buy land a couple of years later it's just all too much they just don't have the skills and they leave but not everyone on the skeety has to hide through the forest to get to a toilet the engineering of some homes here is so impressive it's created a buzz like the Earthship yes that's what it's called owned by a family from Alberta Jerry is the caretaker so by comparison to the yurt where you're living right now this is the entire other end of the spectrum that is true the Earthship is made of natural and recycled materials its walls built from old tires its power coming from the Sun water circulates underneath this dirt here so you can garden right here you'd be hard-pressed to realize this home is off the grid there are lights bathtubs fridges and flat screens Wow you're not wanting for anything here some people have electric everything here of course there is a dual philosophy on the skeety some believe moving here is about translating city life to the island while others insist it's about abandoning the unnecessary and then there are those like al gains power 83 years old and when we caught up with him while chopping firewood in his front yard I was just gonna rest on her french hell was an engineer in Vancouver when in 1989 his boss wouldn't give him the summer off so he quit and has lived on less Keaney ever since fired loan I have guests coming I would have made my bed he lives here by himself in complete contentment home baked bread I baked it this morning three Dolf soggy like that warmed by two wood stoves it's a serious piece of metal how did you get that here say boat selva yep and his homemade plum wine oh I got one the home two stories three rooms he built himself all by hand from scratch I just always wanted to live out in the woods it even has two bathtubs I'll show you my outside bathtub so you make a fire around the tubs underneath the actual tub yeah that's the top underneath I make the fire you should see me in there I've made myself a little bored I have a glass of wine on it and they do my laundry when I'm in the bathtub hey it's very organized while I'm sitting in the drinking my wine I just worked the laundry yeah on his roof a row of solar panels that power his place in the summer while down in the creek a hydro turbine supplies enough energy for the winter so this is it so when I turn it on I'll turn it on okay so what do you do for drinking water uh I use water from a creek up the hill how do you know that how do I know if it's safe I've been drinking for 30 years so can't be too bad Al's wise enough to know he needs to get off the island at times usually he says when he starts talking to himself or if I argued with myself and I can't win the argument I know I have to go over for a couple of days but he always comes back to the waiting arms of the forest and the serenity that can only be found on the skeety next on sixteen by nine into pets okay try taking this pack for a stroll there are many on the skeety who would like to keep their little island a secret an oasis of individuals where oddities are embraced even celebrated the community page here boasts there is very little industry and no bustling economy they like it this way there is one pub with its set of regulars one cafe that sends you off with organic brew and a hug and the free store where you can pick up odds and ends for free the one thing that comes in abundance here is feral sheep no one really knows how many run wild but its guests around a thousand that might make Tiki Smith's animal collection seem paltry by comparison still when we met her we couldn't believe it you hello what's going lattes are cheeky has 42 st. Bernard's so you know them all my name yes all of them oh yeah which ones this one that's gala which ones this one Nina this is Bella look she's a breeder who's so in love with the slobbering panting trampling dogs she's kept one from every litter and well it adds up up until today I was clean relatively speaking no longer clean there are dogs everywhere because everywhere Tiki is a magnet for the dogs a pack leader followed everywhere she goes except as it turned out by this guy after running up and down the forest he simply seemed to have had enough equally adorable tikis newborn baby Arlen strapped to her chest for the entire trek so your four month old son slept the entire way oh yeah the dogs don't bother oh no honey they're music to him Arlen was born much like his mother right here on the ski tee but the timing of his arrival was rather sudden and some tiki gave birth at home with only her two-year-old son Niall at her side no help no nurse no Midwife no there's no time for anybody to get here Kiki's husband Jacob also grew up on the ski team they both went to school here and together their life involves raising two boys and more than 40 giant dogs the beauty of the skeety lush forests and rippling waters betrays the hard work required to live here put three days a week aside for chopping firewood alone and there's not a lot of lounging time left one might think that would discourage many from moving here especially city girls like Stacey Hogan I am the last person that anyone in my family or my friends know they would ever live this kind of a lifestyle but ask her today six years after arriving and she'll tell you there's nowhere else she'd rather be this is our dining room kitchen and eating area and this is our bedroom it all in one room they live and work here Stacey at the pub her common-law husband Darcy on the barge what was the biggest sacrifice in moving here I could answer that quickly what well I think your plumbing nope it took me a long time to get used to that when you live in the city you don't to see somebody having a pee over there and and where that's the way it is here and and I had a really tough time with that their life is a blend of forest living and urban luxuries an outdoor shower lies not far from their washing machine a satellite dish is placed beside solar panels and in between the toaster iPod charger and coffee grinder you'll find the one thing stacy couldn't give up it's not that life here is cheaper or in Stacey and Darcy's case all that more environmentally friendly it's just freer it's like you know the land at time for God or something like that it's either easy just to block it all out and live your life here and not worry about you know whether Iran is building a nuclear weapon and you know somebody's gonna come after them for it you just kind of go okay well it's kind of like some reading a fictional novel really they do that do that yeah on the skeety life is governed by the wind and the sea by whether it rains and whether the creek will power your turbine by the things you can't plan for and would we want to anyhow how long do you see yourselves living on this island I think I'll be taking off hopefully but it is an island defined not so much by a lack of power but by its collection of characters where even stragglers are always welcome back into the pack next on sixteen by nine could this Canadian teach the Scots a thing or two about referendums do you think people know the tension that they're in for I think as a Canadian I have an idea

Channel: 16x9onglobal

Views: 2,213,110

Rating: 4.8508739 out of 5

Keywords: Vancouver (City/Town/Village), Electricity, Hermit, Island, Lasqueti, Survival Skills (TV Genre), 16:9 (TV Program)

Id: prN8xW_e4A0

Length: 14min 20sec (860 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 30 2012

Reddit Comments

[u/wolfgangmozart]

Yep, a lot of people made a lot of money growing weed on that island.

[u/OprahButWorse]

Wow, thanks for posting that. I live in Victoria and had no idea about this island. Very interesting.

[u/JulezM]

I'm completely torn here. On the one hand I'd do it in a heartbeat because it's a resource-based lifestyle. On the other, I'm not sure I could go without indoor plumbing. Plus the knowledge that you'd have to return to reality in case you need medical care, puts a damper on the whole philosophy.

I do love the audacity of the old geyser who quit his job and said, "Fuckitt, I'm off to live in the woods. On an island. And fuck all y'all."

[u/troubleondemand]

I've been there! It's truly a wonderful place.

[u/[deleted]]

This reminded me of this awesome doc called Beautiful Lennard Island produced by the NFB. It's a 1977 doc of this young boy and his family who have their own island and live in "semi seclusion". Pretty interesting.

http://www.nfb.ca/film/beautiful_lennard_island

As a small tidbit, i learned not too long ago that the boy in that film became an astrophysicist

[u/edvardkhil]

does anyone know any other similar doc's to this i like enjoyed it

[u/retroelectro666]

That island...is great Britain

[u/Canadian_Infidel]

If I live off the grid I will have water and power and it will be 100% environmentally friendly. You just have to find the right spot with moving water.

[u/mootchell]

Why?